1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a performance information output control apparatus having a preceding output function, a keyboard instrument and a control method of the apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
An example of an automatic playing piano is configured to reproduce accompaniment based on accompaniment data so that a player can play the automatic playing piano according to the accompaniment thus reproduced. When a player can not follow the accompaniment thus reproduced, the automatic playing piano stops the accompaniment at every predetermined section and waits for performance of the player. Then, when the player presses down a key of a tone corresponding to the section, the automatic playing piano restarts the accompaniment (see JP-A-2008-175969). In this respect, when the accompaniment is restarted in response to detection of the press-down of the key by the player, there may arise a delay until the restart of the accompaniment after the detection of the press-down of the key. According to the method of JP-A-2008-175969, the press-down of the key is detected on the way of press-down of the key to the last and the accompaniment is restarted, whereby this delay is reduced.
In recent years, some of keyboard instruments such as an automatic playing piano is configured in a manner that music sound according to performance by the keyboard instrument is generated by an external device connected to the outside of the keyboard instrument. The external device is a wireless headphone, a wireless MIDI (Music Instrument Digital Interface) transmission system or the like, for example. When connecting a keyboard instrument via the Internet to perform a musical session, a sound signal of performance played at one location may be transmitted via the Internet to another keyboard instrument, thereby generating music sound based on the sound signal.
JP-A-2009-116325 discloses a technique that, in order to compensate delay of performance caused by communication at the time of performing a musical session via the Internet, a trajectory of a key after a predetermined time is predicted by detecting press-down of keys by a player, and then the key trajectory information is transmitted to a partner of the musical session. According to this technique, for example, the key trajectory information according to performance of a keyboard instrument at one location is transmitted to the musical session partner, and another keyboard instrument at the other location receives this key trajectory information. Then, when the other keyboard instrument performs performance based on the received key trajectory information, performance of the musical session partner can also be listened at the other location in a manner of reducing the delay caused by the communication.
Patent Literature 1: JP-A-2008-175969
Patent Literature 2: JP-A-2009-116325